Brew Review – Oskar Blues’ Deviant Dales

Deviant Dale’s Ale

I have a couple of beers in the fridge that have already been covered fairly well by other bloggers that I follow, but the stars kind of aligned for me my last shopping trip and they all seemed to drop into my cart. So while I guess my reviews of them will be kind of redundant for those who follow the same blogs I do; and I probably won’t be able to add any more to what they’ve already said about them, I figured I’d toss my two cents into the pot anyway. Up first, Oskar Blues’ Deviant Dale’s India pale ale.

Oskar Blues garners quite a bit of attention as the brewery that only distributes their beers in cans. And as we’ve discussed, beer in the can doesn’t mean “crap beer” anymore.

THEM: Anything I’d type would be just a rewording of the official website run down, so here it is: “Deviant Dale’s IPA (8% ABV, 85 IBUs) was born at the crossroads, in a juke joint, as if Dale’s Pale Ale sold its soul to balance Deviant’s foreboding aromas of citrus, grapefruit rind and piney resins with a copper ball-of-fire color and inscrutable finish. The 2011 GABF Silver Medal Winner (American IPA Category) is the Devil incarnate with untold amounts of malt and hedonistic Columbus dry-hopping. Oskar Blues’ southern spirit caught a northbound blues bus to ColoRADo to deliver the boundary bustin’ brewery’s first 16 oz. tallboy can.”

Deviant was formulated as a “double” of their flagship Dale’s Pale Ale. It has four hop additions during the boil and an “excessive” Columbus dry hop addition. As a point of interest the gold metal in 2011 was won by La Cumbre Brewing Company’s (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Elevated IPA, which has also been released in 16oz cans.

ME: Deviant Dale’s pours a deep copper with a layer of fine looking bubbles. This is another really good looking beer color wise. The nose is super malty, with just a hint of understated hops. No, I’m joking, this is a hop monster through and through with deep grapefruit type citrus and resin/wood notes leaping from the glass. The flavor however does have a malty touch in the front that quickly gets stampeded by all the hop flavors: grapefruit, tropical fruits, as well as the pine/resin that screams “Columbus”. Wow. Simply wow. It ends with a lingering bitterness that you almost believe is going to turn into that “back of the throat” burn you get from some spicy food. I can’t tell if it’s the bitterness of the beer, or my mouth just signaled surrender as I reach the bottom of the glass.

To touch upon what others have said about this beer, the liquid merely exists as a device to transport the a fore mentioned Columbus hops to your palate. If you love this hop (and I know some of you do) than this is definitely a beer for you. Personally, I’m more of a malt man myself. I find these hop behemoths to be to over the top to enjoy any more than one at a time without having to drink a rip of water afterwards. That being said, they always seem to be a nice go to for me at bars and festivals to wake my palate back up after 3 or 4 other beers. Think of after shave in the morning – and the cold sting that goes with it.

Yeah I’m still throwing mine up tomorrow because it’s written and I both teach and bartend tonight. So there is no time to write another one. I like your review though. Your blog, and a couple others, keep intersecting on the beer review situation. It’s okay though, like you said, great minds think alike!